Create a Bootable Windows USB Drive
Content
How to create a bootable Windows USB drive
A common use of a bootable USB flash drive is to use it to boot into
Windows. Booting from removable media such as a USB drive allows
you to perform diagnostics on a computer that is having trouble
booting from the hard drive. You can also use the flash drive to install
Windows, instead of using the Windows installation CD.
This guide will outline making a bootable USB flash drive with Windows XP,
Vista, or 7. Before we begin, it is important to note that the computer you
want to use your bootable USB drive must be able to use a USB drive as a
boot device. Most computers built since Windows Vista was released are
capable of booting to a USB device. Prior to the Windows Vista time frame,
it's hit or miss with motherboards.
To determine if a computer is capable of booting to a USB device, access the
computer's BIOS and check the bootable device list. If a USB device is listed,
set the USB drive to be the first boot device. If you do not see a USB device
in the list of bootable devices, your BIOS is not capable of booting to a USB
device.
Note: You may need to have your USB flash drive plugged in when you
access the BIOS).
Windows Vista and Windows 7 users
Windows XP users
Windows Vista and Windows 7 users
To make a bootable USB drive for Windows Vista or Windows 7, you need to
have Windows Vista or 7 installed on your computer. It is recommended that
you have a flash drive of at least 4 GB in size, to store all the necessary files.
Tip: Before you start, plug in the USB drive and backup any files you have
stored on the USB drive. The drive will be formatted during this process and
all files on it will be deleted.
Note: You need to have a Windows Vista or Windows 7 DVD for these
instructions to be successful.
1. Open an elevated Windows command line window by clicking Start,
typing in cmd in the search text field, then pressing CTRL + Shift +
Enter on your keyboard (at the same time). You can also access this
by navigating to Start, All Programs, Accessories, right-click with your
mouse on the Command Prompt menu item and select Run as
Administrator.
2. At the command prompt, type cd c:\windows\system32 to change
the directory to the Windows system32 directory. Ensure your USB
drive is plugged in, type DISKPART, then press Enter. Type LIST
DISK and press Enter.
See our diskpart command page for additional information on this
command.
3. You will see a listing of the disk drives connected to your computer. Find
the disk number of your USB drive and type SELECT DISK [USB disk
#], where "[USB disk #]" is the disk # for your USB drive. It should
now state that your USB drive is the selected disk. If you're not sure
what disk is the USB disk, eject the USB drive, perform step number 2
again, connect the USB drive again, and compare the results. Usually
the USB drive will be the last drive.
4. Type in the following commands, one by one, pressing Enter after each
command.
CLEAN
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
SELECT PARTITION 1
ACTIVE
FORMAT FS=NTFS
(may take a couple minutes, depending on the USB drive size)
ASSIGN
EXIT
Keep the command prompt window open, but you can minimize it for a little
bit.
5. You will now need your Windows Vista or 7 Installation DVD. Put the DVD
in your computer's DVD drive. Open up My Computer and note which
drive letter is assigned to your DVD Drive and your USB flash drive.
6. Go back to the command prompt window and type in D: CD
BOOT (substitute your DVD drive letter for "D:", if necessary) and
press Enter. Type CD BOOT again and press Enter. Lastly,
type BOOTSECT.EXE /NT60 H: (substitute your USB flash drive letter
for "H:", if necessary) and press Enter.
7. The last step is to copy the entire contents of the Windows DVD to your
USB flash drive. To do this, in the My Computer window (opened in step
5 above), right-click on the DVD drive and select Open to view the
contents of the DVD. Copy all the files and folders on the DVD to the
USB flash drive.
Your USB flash drive is now set up to be a bootable USB drive for Windows
Vista or 7.
Windows XP users
To make the bootable USB drive for Windows XP, it is recommended that you
have a flash drive of at least 4 GB in size, to store all the necessary files. You
also need to download Windows Server 2003 SP1 and a program
called PE Builder (also known asBart PE).
Windows Server 2003 SP1
Bart PE
Tip: Before you start, plug in the USB drive and backup any files you have
stored on the USB drive. The drive will be formatted during this process and
all files on it will be deleted.
Note: You need to have a Windows XP Professional CD for these instructions
to be successful. Windows XP Home Edition does not work.
1. Install PE Builder on your computer. For the sake of ease, install the
program to aC:\PEBuilder folder. After you've installed PE Builder,
create a folder titled SRSP1 in the PEBuilder folder.
2. Now you need to extract two files from Windows Server 2003 SP1. The
filename is quite long, so it is recommended that you rename the file to
something shorter, like WS-SP1.exe. Open a command prompt
(Start > Run, type cmd and press Enter) and use the cd command to
change to the folder where you downloaded the Windows Server 2003
SP1 file to (i.e. cd c:\downloads to change to the c:\downloads
folder). Then, type WS-SP1.exe -x to extract the files. A window
should open asking where to extract the files. You can enter the same
folder where the file was downloaded.
3. A new folder titled i386 will be created by the extraction process. Type cd
i386 to change to that folder. You now need to copy the setupldr.bin file
to the SRSP1 folder you created in the PE Builder folder. Type copy
setupldr.bin c:\PEBuilder\SRSP1 to copy the file.
4. You also need to expand the ramdisk.sys file to the SRSP1 folder.
Type expand -r ramdisk.sy_ c:\PEBuilder\SRSP1
5. Open My Computer and navigate to the c:\PEBuilder\SRSP1 folder and
verify the two files are there.
6. Next, you need to create a compressed version of Windows XP using PE
Builder. Make sure the Windows XP Professional CD is in your
computer's CD drive, then launch the PE Builder program. In the
Source field, type in the drive letter assigned to your CD Drive (you can
check in My Computer if you are not sure) (e.g. "d:"). In the Output
field, typeBartPE. Make sure the None option is selected in the Media
output section. Then click the Build button.
A progress report shows the progress of the bootable image build. When the
build process is complete, click the Close button.
7. Now, you can create the bootable USB flash drive. Open a command
prompt again and type cd c:\PEBuilder to change to the PEBuilder
folder. Make sure your USB drive is plugged in to your computer and
type pe2usb -f e: (change "e:" to the drive letter assigned to your USB
flash drive, if necessary) to create the bootable drive. When prompted
to begin the process, type YES. When the process is complete, press
any key to exit the program.
Your USB flash drive is now set up to be a bootable USB drive for Windows
XP using the Bart PE interface.
A common use of a bootable USB flash drive is to use it to boot into
Windows. Booting from removable media such as a USB drive allows
you to perform diagnostics on a computer that is having trouble
booting from the hard drive. You can also use the flash drive to install
Windows, instead of using the Windows installation CD.
This guide will outline making a bootable USB flash drive with Windows XP,
Vista, or 7. Before we begin, it is important to note that the computer you
want to use your bootable USB drive must be able to use a USB drive as a
boot device. Most computers built since Windows Vista was released are
capable of booting to a USB device. Prior to the Windows Vista time frame,
it's hit or miss with motherboards.
To determine if a computer is capable of booting to a USB device, access the
computer's BIOS and check the bootable device list. If a USB device is listed,
set the USB drive to be the first boot device. If you do not see a USB device
in the list of bootable devices, your BIOS is not capable of booting to a USB
device.
Note: You may need to have your USB flash drive plugged in when you
access the BIOS).
Windows Vista and Windows 7 users
Windows XP users
Windows Vista and Windows 7 users
To make a bootable USB drive for Windows Vista or Windows 7, you need to
have Windows Vista or 7 installed on your computer. It is recommended that
you have a flash drive of at least 4 GB in size, to store all the necessary files.
Tip: Before you start, plug in the USB drive and backup any files you have
stored on the USB drive. The drive will be formatted during this process and
all files on it will be deleted.
Note: You need to have a Windows Vista or Windows 7 DVD for these
instructions to be successful.
1. Open an elevated Windows command line window by clicking Start,
typing in cmd in the search text field, then pressing CTRL + Shift +
Enter on your keyboard (at the same time). You can also access this
by navigating to Start, All Programs, Accessories, right-click with your
mouse on the Command Prompt menu item and select Run as
Administrator.
2. At the command prompt, type cd c:\windows\system32 to change
the directory to the Windows system32 directory. Ensure your USB
drive is plugged in, type DISKPART, then press Enter. Type LIST
DISK and press Enter.
See our diskpart command page for additional information on this
command.
3. You will see a listing of the disk drives connected to your computer. Find
the disk number of your USB drive and type SELECT DISK [USB disk
#], where "[USB disk #]" is the disk # for your USB drive. It should
now state that your USB drive is the selected disk. If you're not sure
what disk is the USB disk, eject the USB drive, perform step number 2
again, connect the USB drive again, and compare the results. Usually
the USB drive will be the last drive.
4. Type in the following commands, one by one, pressing Enter after each
command.
CLEAN
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
SELECT PARTITION 1
ACTIVE
FORMAT FS=NTFS
(may take a couple minutes, depending on the USB drive size)
ASSIGN
EXIT
Keep the command prompt window open, but you can minimize it for a little
bit.
5. You will now need your Windows Vista or 7 Installation DVD. Put the DVD
in your computer's DVD drive. Open up My Computer and note which
drive letter is assigned to your DVD Drive and your USB flash drive.
6. Go back to the command prompt window and type in D: CD
BOOT (substitute your DVD drive letter for "D:", if necessary) and
press Enter. Type CD BOOT again and press Enter. Lastly,
type BOOTSECT.EXE /NT60 H: (substitute your USB flash drive letter
for "H:", if necessary) and press Enter.
7. The last step is to copy the entire contents of the Windows DVD to your
USB flash drive. To do this, in the My Computer window (opened in step
5 above), right-click on the DVD drive and select Open to view the
contents of the DVD. Copy all the files and folders on the DVD to the
USB flash drive.
Your USB flash drive is now set up to be a bootable USB drive for Windows
Vista or 7.
Windows XP users
To make the bootable USB drive for Windows XP, it is recommended that you
have a flash drive of at least 4 GB in size, to store all the necessary files. You
also need to download Windows Server 2003 SP1 and a program
called PE Builder (also known asBart PE).
Windows Server 2003 SP1
Bart PE
Tip: Before you start, plug in the USB drive and backup any files you have
stored on the USB drive. The drive will be formatted during this process and
all files on it will be deleted.
Note: You need to have a Windows XP Professional CD for these instructions
to be successful. Windows XP Home Edition does not work.
1. Install PE Builder on your computer. For the sake of ease, install the
program to aC:\PEBuilder folder. After you've installed PE Builder,
create a folder titled SRSP1 in the PEBuilder folder.
2. Now you need to extract two files from Windows Server 2003 SP1. The
filename is quite long, so it is recommended that you rename the file to
something shorter, like WS-SP1.exe. Open a command prompt
(Start > Run, type cmd and press Enter) and use the cd command to
change to the folder where you downloaded the Windows Server 2003
SP1 file to (i.e. cd c:\downloads to change to the c:\downloads
folder). Then, type WS-SP1.exe -x to extract the files. A window
should open asking where to extract the files. You can enter the same
folder where the file was downloaded.
3. A new folder titled i386 will be created by the extraction process. Type cd
i386 to change to that folder. You now need to copy the setupldr.bin file
to the SRSP1 folder you created in the PE Builder folder. Type copy
setupldr.bin c:\PEBuilder\SRSP1 to copy the file.
4. You also need to expand the ramdisk.sys file to the SRSP1 folder.
Type expand -r ramdisk.sy_ c:\PEBuilder\SRSP1
5. Open My Computer and navigate to the c:\PEBuilder\SRSP1 folder and
verify the two files are there.
6. Next, you need to create a compressed version of Windows XP using PE
Builder. Make sure the Windows XP Professional CD is in your
computer's CD drive, then launch the PE Builder program. In the
Source field, type in the drive letter assigned to your CD Drive (you can
check in My Computer if you are not sure) (e.g. "d:"). In the Output
field, typeBartPE. Make sure the None option is selected in the Media
output section. Then click the Build button.
A progress report shows the progress of the bootable image build. When the
build process is complete, click the Close button.
7. Now, you can create the bootable USB flash drive. Open a command
prompt again and type cd c:\PEBuilder to change to the PEBuilder
folder. Make sure your USB drive is plugged in to your computer and
type pe2usb -f e: (change "e:" to the drive letter assigned to your USB
flash drive, if necessary) to create the bootable drive. When prompted
to begin the process, type YES. When the process is complete, press
any key to exit the program.
Your USB flash drive is now set up to be a bootable USB drive for Windows
XP using the Bart PE interface.
